Editors’ Note: Below is a press release from Paul Nehlen. If you don’t recall, Nehlen challenged Paul Ryan in the Republican primary running on a populist/nationalist message in contrast to the stand pat globalism of Paul Ryan. Nehlen did not prevail, but this is a clever move on his part. Surprisingly to many, you do not have to be an elected member of the House of Representatives to be elected Speaker. This will give Nehlen a national platform from which to continue to assail Ryan for his globalist agenda – TPP, increased immigration and immigration “reform” and foreign policy interventionism.

Kenosha, WI – Paul Nehlen today announced his candidacy for Speaker of the House of the United States Representatives.

He released the following statement on his candidacy:

“Real America knows that D.C. lives in a bubble, and that the power players inside the Beltway are concerned with their own fortunes rather than with the plight of the American worker and middle class,” Nehlen opened. “Speaker Paul Ryan – a man who bends over backward to deliver President Obama’s agenda – is the physical embodiment of Washington’s disregard for the American people.

“Paul Ryan is a man who is openly working to undermine Donald Trump’s effort to regain the White House for Republicans. The people are right to ask him whose team he’s on,” Nehlen continued.

“Paul Ryan is the absolute last person who should be in charge of checking and balancing the executive branch of the federal government from the perspective of the federal legislature, and over the next few months we’ll have a conversation about the proper role of the Speaker of the House and what a real leader could do were he to hold the Speaker’s gavel,” concluded Nehlen.

Article 1, Section 2 of the United States Constitution allows for non-members of the U.S. House of Representatives to be elected Speaker of the House. The election for Speaker of the House occurs when the 115th Congress returns to D.C. in January of 2017.

The Republican Conference traditionally holds its leadership elections soon after November’s federal elections, but there are talks Speaker Ryan may attempt to move those forward on the calendar to avoid accountability as Congress deals with budgetary legislation later in the lame-duck session.

Mark Meadows, a conservative member of the Freedom Caucus and FreedomWorks, a formidable conservative grassroots organization, have each advocated for delaying Republican leadership elections until later in the lame-duck session in order to give Americans a better sense of Speaker Ryan’s agenda.

Paul Nehlen is a successful manufacturing executive who engineers corporate and factory turnarounds and works to repatriate manufacturing facilities to the United States. He began his career in factory floor maintenance, and has worked his way up to ownership positions in several Fortune 500 and Fortune 200 companies. Nehlen ran against Paul Ryan in the Republican primary for Wisconsin’s first Congressional district, and was endorsed by Phyllis Schlafly, Richard Viguerie, Ann Coulter, Michelle Malkin, Lars Larson, and Stop Common Core in Wisconsin, among others. Paul lives in Delvan, Wisconsin, with his wife Gabriela.